Puja beats

Thirty-five year old Sreedhar Das works as cobbler in Mymensingh city. Every year, on the occasion of puja celebrations, this young dhak (a percussive instrument) artiste plays the instrument at Puja mandaps, especially during Durga Puja. This is his ancestral profession and he has been pursuing it as a hobby since the last 20 years.

Durga Puja is being celebrated at 773 Puja mandaps in the district this year, informed Shankar Saha, Organising Secretary of the District Puja Celebration Committee.

Sreedhar was contacted by Dashabhuja Bari Puja Mandap at city’s Durgabari Road. They wanted to hire Sreedhar for five days. The payment was also decent.

Some dhak players from Wrishi Das Community said that this tradition has been running in their family since generations. However, they payment they receive from this profession is very poor.

“Dhak and dhol artistes from different parts of the country, including Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Gazipur, Kishoreganj, Bikrampur, Dhaka, Natore, and Bogura have gathered at Mymensingh for the festival,” said artsite Priyolal Das from Bajitpur, Kishoreganj.

Shankar Wrishi Das, a forty year old dhol player from Kapasia in Gazipur said, “I am an auto-rickshaw driver at Kapasia. Every festive season, the beats of dhol draw me towards the mandap and I am bound to come out of the house with the instrument. We visit Mymensingh every year for better contacts as the celebration is much flamboyant in this area than other districts.”

The seasonal dhak and dhol artistes no longer take this as a regular profession, informed Raj Kumar Wrishi, a prominent national-level dhak player.

There are no institutions that offer lessons on these instruments,  and the artistes take up this passion under the guidance of their elders from the same profession, shared sixty year old Dhiru Wrishi Das, a former dhak player. “As the weight of a dhak is around seven kilograms, the artistes cannot continue this profession for long as it effects their physical health,” he adds.